@Huntik13: Yes it does! --> http://clockworkatrium.smackjeeves.com/comics/1801834/chapter-03-page-42 (agh, old art D8) (and no for some reason coding that link was not working wtf)
He was asking for it really hahah :D

So hello! It isn't much of a reason for my absence anymore, but, my son was born two weeks earlier than he was expected! Long story short it was a very rough birth that ended with me having a blood transfusion, but now three months later we're all doing great :)

For a baby, he's really pretty independent, so (and here comes those words again) hopefully I'll be able to update a lot more this year than I did last year hahah.

@Huntik13: Waaah, such a detailed comment, I'm too shy! Ahah. It's nice to meet you then, and hopefully I can live up to your expectations! :)

@Cave: It was actually a concern (well, "concern") of mine way back when I was first fleshing out the concept. I think it's kind of obvious that I'm a big Battle Royale fan and while it can get pretty goretastic (especially the comic) (and that damned movie), there's also a major focus on the characters and their psyche, how their circumstance alters them. That's what I wanted to do with Atrium. Throw a bunch of turbulent young adults into a lose-lose situation and see how they stand up to the pressure.
... the "killing each other" is just a bonus for me :D

@Theorah: Ahah, I've pretty much stopped using DA too, don't feel there's anything to it anymore OTL Though I always love your work, glad to see you're still around! :)

Nice, I like that the new SJ layout theme thing automatically says that a comic is on hiatus ahah.

I'm not gonna try to make anymore "I'll be sure to update more regularly!" comments because things are uh, kinda rough in the land of the Charil. If you aren't a reader of my blog (which is also mostly dead air so I'm not expecting anyone to be hahah) here's the rundown of what's got me so messed up cos I'm past the point of caring if I hide it or not:

Clinical depression -- or rather, "severe treatment-resistant major depressive disorder." Comic-update wise, this fluctuates between "I suck at this let's not look at how much I suck" and "yeah haven't updated in ten months don't care let's sleep" with very, very fleeting bouts of "I feel like drawing right now."
Sleep disorder -- or rather, "idiopathic hypersomnia with long sleep-time." Kinda tends to eat up time. Most certainly brought on by the above, though the below probably aggravates it as well.
Pregnancy -- or rath-- wait what??? Not negative like the above two but yeah, seven months along now :) Except the kid's doing just peachy while I'm here struggling through HG, lightheadedness, the aforementioned sleep disorder, and, oh, trying to sit at the computer for more than a couple hours at a time without killing my back.

So, I'm trying to update, but I don't want to make promises that will be immediately broken. My husband ( wait what?!?! ) has started bribing me to finish comic pages lol so uh, we'll see how long that lasts hahah (psst, tell him he should pay me >V>).

I don't want to make excuse-y artist comments anymore so, gonna just go with the flow for now until situations improve :)

@Groovy, Kinda: It's good to (kind of) be back! And yes, I know, life just had to happen at the most inopportune time comic-wise :D With any luck I'll be updating with a bit more frequency than, uh, once every five months; I've missed this work a little too much!

However many weeks, two corrupted files, one house purchase and an extended stay in the hospital later...

I've only recently been able to work at anything close to my previous speed (see: how long it took to do this dang page) but not being able to update, I believe, was actually taking further tolls on my mental health so, as was the overwhelming consensus, I'll be trying my best to update weekly again :)

@m_celeri: I am (actually working on some pages at the moment)! Things have been kind of off and on for me but they seem to be looking up so hopefully (yeah how many times have I said this now lol) I'll be more consistent! :) Thanks a ton for still reading!!

@Cave: Thank you! Things are becoming more manageable :) I think I'll be leaning toward weekly (and see how well that worked out lol) though if I can manage it, having weekly updates of multiple pages might be fun!

@Bandito: Hahah, a little intimidating indeed :D It was really flattering to see people respond positively! And thanks for your vote of confidence! :)

@Bob: That is a good point. Webcomics have been sort of a constant for me through thick and thin, so it's somewhat comforting for it to still be here after all this. And thanks! I'm thinking I'll set my pace however. If that means one page a week, two pages a week, etc so be it :)

@Bartimaeus: Thanks! It's good to be back!

@bookclimber: Hahah, I imagine it must have been a little startling, suddenly an update notification appearing after something like ten months. Oops. :) Getting back into the groove is probably the hardest part at the moment, but I'll keep fighting!

@melaredblu: After all this time, just to die right out the gate like that. Would be unfortunate to say the least!

So, the elephant in the room. I'm sure at least one person will say something like "you don't owe anyone an explanation!" but, well, I owe you an explanation hahah. I have been... ill, is a good way to put it. Pretty dang ill actually, for the past two years. I'm still ill. It's something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.
But, I'm starting to manage it, and starting to get back into the swing of things again. This was... really slow going. But I'm coming back. Best I can :)

That said, it was very much emotional for me to hit that "Add New Comic" button hahah.

In light of the above, I've got a question for... whoever's left hahahahah. How would you guys prefer updates go? Would you like longer updates like this, updates that consist of about 2-4 pages but might take slightly longer (not nine months longer, I swear) (knock on wood) or attempted weekly pages like before, with one page a week? Let me know! At any rate, I'm trying to pump these out best I can now. I've really missed doing comic pages, and it took trudging through these to realize that again :)